Curious

[beastmode_kitty]

Hey all!

Been using FitBit now for almost 2 months and i'm loving it! I didn't realize just how powerful of a tool it is!

So here's the scoop. I heavy lift 4 days a week, and try to minimize the cardio as much as possible. But I believe I have hit a really nasty plateau that has lasted for longer than a year. Ive gone as low as 1300-1400 calories a day, and as high as 2000-2100 calories and I can't seem to get the fat to disappear. Mind you just recently I've been diagnosed with Iron Deficient Anemia, so I'm currently taking iron supplements to bump my levels back up. Not sure if that might have something to do with that.

Ive been following a flexible dieting kinda approach to things and making sure I get enough protein, carbs and fat. I also been researching this whole Eat More 2 Weigh Less thing, which is telling me to really bump my calories up past 2000 and eat at TDEE and kind of reset everything. But to me this almost doesn't make sense.

Fitbit Dashboard suggests i eat around 1800-1900 calories a day based on what a burn a day. I'm just so confused on if i should keep eating the cals i do, or bump it up to do what they call a metabolic reset and then cut the calories back down.

I'm 5'8, 164 pounds and wear a size 10/12 ish. Would like to get down to 150 pds and be around a size 8 with about 22% body fat.

[sabitabi88]

I'm also at a plateau. I will say this much, as much as I love my fitbit and the entire fitbit situation, I don't take much stock in what it tells me I can eat each day based on my calories burned. I have noticed that for myself atleast, it runs high. I try to stick to 1300 calories because I am so close to my goal that it is very hard for me to lose more at this point. It is very true that as your body gets closer to it's goal it gets harder to lose weight. Your body WANTS to lose fat when you have a lot to lose but as you start to bridge that gap is starts to calm down on it's need to burn fat. Anywho! I took a fitness and nutrition course and I have watched a lot of documentaries on the subject and I did learn that calories are not created equally. Yes calories in vs. calories out is the basic idea to losing weight BUT if you eat a lot of sugar (even fruit) your body will turn that into fat almost right away. The key is to having a fairly stable glucose level throughout your day. I personally do a HORRIBLE job at this lol. I am pretty sure that is why I'm at my own plateau. I can't speak for you but these are just some tips I have learned along the way. Also keep in mind that salt adds water weight so some days try to keep your salt intake low and see what happens. I tend to test all sorts of theories on my self and going lower in salt and carbs has helped when I feel like I'm stuck. IDK how that affects Iron though, so be careful with that.

[awood08]

I've hit a plateau recently as well, I had gone down from 235 to 172 since June and was stuck for several weeks. I tried intermittent fasting and I dropped down to 169 within a few days. I also changed up my routine in the gym, I workout doing alot of cardio throughout the week so I replaced 2 days with weights and core work. Give the change in routine and eating a shot, it may work just as good for you!

[Mukluk4]

You need to cardio to burn the fat.  Weight lifting just increases muscle mass.

[Weeger]

You may not be losing if you do not have much extra body fat.  Your weight alone does not give you your body composition.  Do you know your % body fat?  For women <20% body fat is reasonable for good health (blood pressure, lipids, blood sugar). 

[Dominique]

---

@Mukluk4 wrote:

You need to cardio to burn the fat.  Weight lifting just increases muscle mass.

---

Based on her step count for the past 30 days (as per her profile), @beastmode_kitty is doing a fair amount of cardio, even though she says she tries to minimize it. Anyway, you don’t need cardio to burn fat (though it can assist it): you primarily need to be in a caloric deficit for some period of time. We don’t know her diet history, but it may make sense for her to alternate cutting phases with phases where she eats at maintenance, or even at a slight surplus. For instance, two weeks cutting, one week maintenance/slight surplus. Kind of like you would have a "deload" week after 3-4 weeks of intense resistance training. Otherwise she seems to be doing the right things (flexible dieting, getting enough protein, lifting heavy). 

[too_spicy]

Alright, so I'm gonna go with Eat More 2 Weigh Less on this one. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but there are a bunch of ways that eating at TDEE could help with breaking your plateau.

If your metabolism has slowed down as a result of your dieting, or it's just kindof out-of-whack, bumping up your calories is going to tell your body "okay, you can chill out on the whole conserving fat thing, we're definitely not gonna starve." You probably will see weight gain initially, but as long as you're exercising it should be mostly muscle weight. If it gets to be more than a ten pound gain, you should definitely start bringing your calories back down, because it means that your body was fine to begin with. 

That being said, even if you gain a bunch of weight when you increase your calories, a lot of that is going to be muscle. Increased muscle mass increases the speed of your metabolism. So even if your body didn't need a reset, you're now coming out the gate of your cut with a faster metabolism than you had before and in theory it should be easier to lose those last few pounds. 

That's just my opinion. Honestly, if your weight hasn't budged in a year, it couldn't hurt to try something that sounds crazy, right? 

[KimShea]

Depending on the severity of the anemia, it can have an effect as well.  I became severely anemic a couple years ago and had to have IV iron infusions three times a week for about a month.  I gained a crap ton of weight during that time, and my dietitian told me that she has seen this happen with people that anemic, once they begin to get it under control.  None of the research seems to explain it, so I'm just going on what I was told by my dietitian and my own experience.

[divedragon]

Try alternate day fasting and make sure on feeding days you eat2k to 2400 in calories and no more than 500 on fasting day.  I stopped loosing even though I was doing a 20:4 fasting regiment, so this past week I changed to alternate fasting.  It gives my about 36 hours with no more than 600 calories.  I really want to do an alternate day with zero calories, but I haven't made that yet.  I've lost a total of 50 lbs in the last year, but still need 10-15 more.  Not sure if this alternate day fasting is going to jump start me or not as I'm traveling and won't get to my scale until end of next week., but I'll keep you posted